wish it weren't an ordinary day
by Ysavvryl
Summary: Mirai has a successful business, good friends, and many of her favorite fish around her. But why does she feel bored lately?


_This was originally written for a contest on Gaia. As such, there's a few jokes and references for that website that might not make sense out of context. But I hope it's still enjoyable._

**wish it wasn't an ordinary day**

Her pink heels clicked against the tan cobblestone street, joining the few other footsteps of early morning pedestrians in Barton. The sound of hammering and drills came from a construction site, while birdsong and conversation filled in the breaks. While the bright golden rays of the sun promised a hot day, it was reasonably warm right now, a breeze brushing across her face. She saw the familiar colors and forms of the buildings around her, as they were every other day, but she still saw a warm beauty to this place.

She approached the sunny and yellow building that housed the Buttercup Cafe. A brown-haired teenaged girl was humming behind the counter, lovingly arranging a vase of fresh flowers. On noticing her, the girl smiled and waved. "Good morning, Mirai!" Rina said in a half-singing voice. "You look lovely today."

Chuckling, Mirai came up to the counter. "I'm wearing the same kind of outfit as usual," she said, adjusting her pink silk scarf.

"But I love your sense of style! Besides, it's always nice to give out a compliment to people you see." She leaned over and touched one of the koi hairclips Mirai was wearing: it had a curling metallic ribbon tail. "Especially your hair. And you're even wearing fish clips today. Does Vanessa do that for you?"

She shook her head. "No, I do this myself. But thank you; you're as sweet as always. Could I get the breakfast egg and cheese sandwich, with a muffin? What kinds do you have today?"

"Oh, of course," Rina said, writing the order down. "I have banana nut muffins, cherry sunrise muffins, and many-grain muffins. The last one is a new recipe I got, and it has loads of healthy heartiness: oats, ground almonds, ground walnuts, flax seeds, poppy seeds, whole wheat flour, and some raw honey for sweetening."

"My, that's almost enough to make up for the egg and cheese sandwich," Mirai said in jest, getting a laugh for it. "Actually, I'll have the cherry sunrise muffin; I love those. But I'll take one of your many-grain muffins for a snack later."

"Sure, I'll bag one up for you," Rina said proudly. "That'll be... three gold and a quarter-piece, and we'll have the sandwich ready in a couple of minutes." She then put the order on a clip and sent it down a line to where the current grill cooks could get the sandwich made.

Since the girl was cheerful and kind, Mirai had come down to the cafe ever since Rina had taken it over. She had taken on more than she expected and the things she made herself at first hadn't been that good. Rina hadn't given up, though, and some more skilled workers had helped her improve a lot over the years. These days, Mirai was happy to try any new recipe that came out of the cafe; they were more hits than misses.

"Have you seen the paper yet?" Rina asked. "The gossip column talks about how some people think Gino's going to come back soon."

Mirai raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought he'd run off to join a nudist colony."

She burst into laughter at that. "Why would you think that? I mean, I have no idea why he's still gone, but that's a little out there."

Shrugging, she said, "Why not? Last time he was seen by a lot of people was that Halloween when he went around wearing nothing but a clam on his head. I always figured, you know, that being the son of Johnny Gambino must have put a lot of pressure on him and he just finally snapped. But at least that took the form of losing his clothes rather than starting another zombie apocalypse or something."

"Well I suppose if he was seeking freedom from his role," then Rina giggled. "But it was in the gossip column, so who knows when we'll see him back, clothed or not."

Mirai chuckled and left the counter so Rina could speak to the next customer. While she waited on her breakfast, she went down the street a little ways to buy a newspaper from one of the orange coin boxes. It wasn't as charming as the kid sellers who used to distribute the paper (that had been one of her first jobs), but with the rise of internet news sources, she could understand the newspaper doing its best to keep costs down and stay relevant. The Barton local paper was mostly interesting for the colorful articles that came out of one writer, known as 'The Barton Observer'. Today he (or she) had written the last article on the series about the Olympic event over on the Isle de Gambino: part praise on the Barton representatives, part joking around about Gamino and Durem's efforts, and part promise to see what 'nefarious' efforts Aekea was up to. A comment at the end noted that the only serious part was the praise for the hometown athletes; The Observer rarely wrote a fully serious article.

She got done with her breakfast and the paper at the same time, so she took a moment to cut out the Observer article with her pocketknife. She considered chatting with Rina, but several more customers had arrived and the girl was busy being her pleasant sunny self. Since nothing else in the newspaper was interesting, she folded it back up and went to the recycling bins to toss it. She had the day off, but wasn't sure what to do with it. She'd probably end up going to Phin Phang anyhow, like she usually did.

Just like every other day... how boring. Her life had gotten stuck in a rut. But, what was there to do about it? Taking care of her fish and her business ate up so much of her time, but she loved it. Mirai just wished that something out of the ordinary would happen today... or someday.

At the recycling bins, she came across a man wearing what had once been a fine brown and gold long coat, but it was frayed, stained with oddly colored spots, and scorched. He saw her going to put the newspaper in the proper bin and came over. "Hey, um, would you, um, mind giving that to me? I, um, could make good, um, use of it."

It was going to be recycled anyways, although she didn't see why he couldn't spare a quarter piece for his own. "Sure, if you want. But I did cut out an article."

"Oh, um, that's fine. It's still good." He took the newspaper and grinned. "Thanks, um, miss. It's, um, very helpful." He then scurried off between some nearby buildings.

"Alchemists," Mirai said with a shrug, then headed back to the main street. Now what to do...?

* * *

She ended up going down the street to an elegant building that had been painted dark blue. The cast iron rails going up the front stairs were artistically formed in coils and curls. Thanks to a new coat of paint, the shop didn't seem as old as it was. Mirai remembered it always being Barton Jewelers for her whole life, and her mother had always run it.

As expected, Agatha was the only person working inside that morning. Her workers only came in afternoons and weekends, not slow times like this. "Good morning, dear," Agatha said with a warm smile.

"Good morning, Mom," Mirai said, going over and hugging her. She was wearing her usual antique rose perfume, as always. "Hope you don't mind me dropping in; I have the day off."

"That's perfectly fine; not like I have any customers yet."

"You have anything new in?" Mirai doubted it would be anything she could work into her particular style. But she checked whenever she could.

And Agatha knew that. "Not much to your tastes, I fear, but I have gotten these beautiful new pieces inspired by the tropics and island culture." She brought her over to one of the display cases. "I knew that with the Olympics being in Gambino this year that customers would be interested in it. And just look at this beadwork here. It takes so much patience, but the results are magnificent."

They chattered for a while, admiring and critiquing the new inventory, catching up on the latest gossip, discussing the Olympics, and wondering who The Barton Observer was. Much how they always talked, but it was a good feeling, having her mother as one of her closest friends. And they worked and lived in the same town, so it was never very far to walk over for a chat.

At one point, Agatha paused by one of the ring display boxes. "Do you know what ring you'd want to be your wedding ring?"

Mirai felt her ears turn pink at that. "Oh Mom, I'm not even dating anyone at this time," she said.

"You sure you haven't thought about it?" she replied with a smile. "A lot of young women do."

"It seems to me like that's getting too far ahead of myself," she said, although she did look into the ring case. The wedding and engagement rings were on a shifting inventory schedule, but there was always one or two that were especially stunning (in looks and price).

"What about that fellow Barrett?" Agatha asked. "You're with him a lot."

"That's because we run the Aquarium Society of Gaia, and if I had left him to run it, it would have been the Gaian Aquarium Society," Mirai pointed out. Barrett's mind managed a strange balance of brilliance and dimness.

"And you live with him."

Because sometimes he crossed over into too dumb to live territory (his last apartment had to be torn down because repairing the damage was more expensive and it had all been an accident). "Well it was supposed to just be temporary," she admitted. "But he helps cover rent and other expenses. Plus I don't have to worry about him messing with my things or trying to come on to me like another guy roommate would do. It's just convenient."

"I suppose it would be," Agatha said. Then she gripped Mirai's wrist. "I'm just worried about you, dear. You seem to be pretty restless lately, like even your work isn't keeping your interest."

"Mom, I'm fine," she said, although it did seem like she dreaded these days off more than anticipated them. "It's not like I need to be married or have a boyfriend to be happy. I'm okay with how things are."

"If that's how you really feel," she said. "These days, you do have more freedom to avoid that. But don't be kicking yourself later on if you want kids but have gotten too old for it."

Mirai smiled. "I have my fish, and that suits me just fine." She glanced over on hearing the door ring and saw that man with the tattered and stained brown coat. "Oh, I think that guy's an alchemist," she whispered as he started looking through the displays.

Agatha put her hand to her cheek. "I suppose I shouldn't complain when they give good business, but sometimes they ask for hard to find pieces or clean out my stock of a particular item. That's not good for customers who want the item for itself. And then I often wonder what they're up to. Ian was telling me the other day how a young lady with the sweetest disposition came into his shop to buy a number of things, and when he asked her what it was for, she said it was to create a man-eating plant. Excuse me, but I think I should help him. Have a good day, dear."

"Sure, you too Mom," Mirai said, then headed out as her mother went to see what the alchemist wanted.

Now what?

* * *

"They're actually known as pixie mermaids," Mirai said, reaching her thin delicate hand into the aquarium. In the tank, there was a mermaid with a lovely blue tail and tumbling locks of matching hair. This one was missing nearly half of her tail fin, but she came over to the hand and clutched at the thumb. In this way, Mirai was able to pull her out briefly; the mermaid was quite a handful. "Actual mermaids can be five to eight feet long, depending on race. These pixies aren't as intelligent as mermaids and humans; they're more like ordinary dogs or dolphins."

"Oh, I see," the customer said. "Are you getting these Memphis ones back in stock?"

Mirrai gave a small sigh and put the Memphis back in the water. "No, not yet. And this one isn't for sale; her past owner didn't care for her properly and tried to get a refund because she had gotten injured. She's getting better, responding to what I do."

"What's the problem with them?"

"It's a long story," the shopkeeper said, brushing back her tan and pink hair with her dry hand. "Basically, the breeding group I was getting them from said they had an overabundance, so I lowered the price on them. And then the last few shipments I got needed some extra care before I could have them in a state to sell, which led to an investigation on cruelty to animals... and now I haven't been able to get hold of a reputable set of breeders to send more Memphis here."

"What about the ones who supply the Enkis?" the customer asked. It had been like this for a while now; Gaians loved the Lila and Memphis pixie mermaids she had sold, but with law changes for fish breeders (which cut out a lot of her stock) and incidents with her main suppliers, she just wasn't able to sell them anymore. Mirai sometimes considered attempting to breed the pixie mermaids herself, but that was said to be much trickier than simply keeping them.

"They tell me that they're working out new breeds, or modifying the ones out now," she told the customer. "But it takes a long time to make sure they're a strong stock and suitable for aquariums. I'm hoping to hear back from them soon, but I have no idea when they'll be ready."

Despite asking about mermaids, the customer ended up buying a Strike Pack of mini monsters and some fish food. Once he left, the store was quiet again. It was just the usual sounds of aquarium filters and aerators, the garden fountains on display, the occasional scuttling of ground-dwellers walking across gravel terrains, and the humming of the Angel Imp at the counter. Mirai switched CDs on the store radio to a piano collection, then went back to cleaning up the store.

She went over to clean the surface of one of the Enki tanks and discovered that it had changed yet again. Although science said that the pixie mermaids weren't of a sentient intelligence, Mirai kept wondering if they'd tested the Prince Enki mermaids wrong. At the very least, they were capable of some kind of magic. Their tank was low on gravel (third time this week alone), it was missing some of the sea plants, and there was now a golden statue of Johnny Gambino dressed as a pirate king on a white pedestal formed like the prow of a wooden ship. There had never been anything exactly like that in her decoration inventory, although there were various aquarium statues of other things.

"What are you boys up to?" Mirai asked. "I'm going to have to set this tank up again."

Five of the twenty Enkis laughed at her. A few others acted coy, while another group was busy dancing near the Gambino statue.

She lifted up a slider to a tunnel that led to another large tank. "Well come on, to the other tank with you all. I've even brought your usual treats."

Normally, she was careful with what went into a tank. But the Enkis were different, prone to getting bored and somehow doing away with all their decor and terrain material. In order to keep them from that, she brought in a couple of eggshells, bits of wax paper, and rock candy to drop into their tank every day. She even had a nub of chalk today, something else they seemed to like. Once the treats were in the water of the other tank, the mermen all obediently swam through the tunnel to the other tank. They were soon delegating who would get what treat. The items were nearly always gone within a few hours, but she never caught sight of them eating them. Or what they did with the items.

Mirai shut the tunnel after the last one had transferred, then put on her gloves and pulled the statue out of the tank. Somebody might like to buy it. Or, since it was one of a kind (unless they made another), it might be nice to have in the shop, to draw in a few more customers. Then she pulled out the large bag of gravel she kept specifically for their tank and began to fill out the bottom again. "Your kin have managed to triple my gravel and sand sales, but what do you do with it? You can't have made a gold statue out of gravel."

There were some more watery laughs, although most of the pixie mermen were busy examining their new items. After some thought, she put the statue back into the empty tank, along with some more plastic plants. It might encourage some more sales of the Enkis.

The door to the back room opened and the sound of Barrett's sneakers broke through the usual noise. On passing by, he glanced up and said, "Hi Mirai," and went on. Then he stopped and came back. "Mirai? What are you doing in here?"

She shrugged. "I couldn't find much to do. And you hadn't given the Enkis their treats. Look what they did today."

Grinning and coming over, he looked at the Gambino statue. "Yeah, they're amazing artists, aren't they? I just can't figure out how they turned their sand into gold. Chemistry just doesn't work that out. I always wondered if we should ask one of those alchemists that come in regularly."

"Alchemists creep me out, or at least one does," Mirai said. "And are you sure about leaving Jules to run the register?" Not all Imps spoke English, so they didn't know if Jules was her real name or not. She could understand most things said to her and do the math, but was absent-minded even more than Barrett.

"It's going to be a slow day, so she'll be okay," Barrett said. "And I'm not going to blow up the back room."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're not, huh?

He raised his hands up, eyes wide. "It's a personal project, but I swear, nothing's explosive this time. It's going to be just fine, not sticky at all." He scratched his head. "Anyhow, it's your day off. You ought to be out somewhere doing something fun."

She frowned. "Well I can't find much fun to do. There's nothing new around and starting anything new would be a lot of work. And I like working with the fish." And I am getting restless, Mirai thought. There had to be something out there to keep every day from seeming like every other day. But there was nothing big coming up now that the Olympics had passed.

"You could go see your father over at Bass'ken Lake," he suggested. "I've got the store taken care of, don't worry."

While she wouldn't mind visiting with her father, going to see him at the lake didn't seem like what she'd want to do on her day off. He'd strong-arm her into going out fishing, which always made her worry about the fish. But then, what else was there to do? Surely there'd be something around Barton.

"You're not going to blow anything up, right?" Mirai asked, just to be certain.

Barrett nodded. "Right. Don't worry; we'll be fine."

* * *

She'd ended up going to Bass'ken and finding Logan at his usual place, the cabin store by the lake. Which meant that they ended up in a wooden rowboat on the middle of the lake, fishing. In a way, it was a relaxing hobby, just sitting out on the lake, taking in the scenery, talking with others sometimes. But she preferred to catch and release all fish that she caught, while her father always kept one or two for dinner.

"Seems like a long time since I got to go out fishing with you," Logan said, checking the state of his bait before casting the line back out. "Weren't those great days, back when you were just a tyke? Had a lot of fun just staying out on the lake and fishing then."

"You made me cry when you ate a live goldfish that one time," Mirai said, reeling in her line and discovering, without much surprise, that she had a gold goldfish hooked. She carefully pulled the hook out of the little fish's mouth and checked over the damage. "Look at him, such a cutie with those big popped eyes. If it wasn't for potential parasites and them being fighters, they'd make for nice aquarium additions." She cupped her hand around the goldfish, then dipped that into the dark lake waters. It quickly darted off to find safety.

"They're all crunchy slimy things, not much meat to them," he said. "But I know a few cooks who can do a wonder with them and a deep frier."

"A deep frier can make anything taste better," she said, preparing to cast her line back out. Once the red bobber was out on the water, she sighed.

"What's up?" Logan asked. "You haven't been as spirited lately, though you're keeping awful busy."

"Oh, I don't know," she said. She usually didn't talk about serious subjects with her father, as his life seemed to revolve around fishing (like her's seemed to revolve around fish). But aside from the cicadas and birds in the woods, the lake was quiet. "Sometimes I'm just not sure what to do. I mean, I love what I do for work and I've got all kinds of wonderful people around me. But nothing much seems exciting anymore. I keep looking for something new to do. I just don't know what."

He grunted. "Sometimes I'm glad for the boring times. Considering the disasters that can happen when things get exciting, I just like a day where I got nothing to do but fish."

Mirai frowned. "I know, some pretty nasty stuff has happened in the past. The boring can get to be too much real fast, though."

"You could always make trouble yourself. Some of the things me and Johnny used to get up to when there wasn't much else to do," he laughed. "As long as it stays harmless. And hey, you are a scientist, aren't you?" He elbowed her.

"Aw, Dad," she said, but smiled at his jest. "I'm not a mad scientist."

"Not yet."

She shrugged. "I guess anything's possible. Some of the fish we get from the one company would make for some fearsome monsters if made bigger and undomesticated. Like the Airsharks.

"Now one thing I never got is why you lot call 'em air sharks when they're clearly in the water," Logan said. "That's like saying old Bassie here in the lake can come out and go flying about."

"Dad, you don't have any proof that old Bassie exists," she pointed out.

"I do!"

"Solid proof."

He put his large hand on her shoulder. "Then we ought to go looking for it! Come on, we'll go monster hunting right in our backyard and go dump it in Gambino Port. That ought to make for some excitement."

She clasped his hand and looked at him. "Dad, you're forgetting something. If Bassie is around, then it's going to be a freshwater fish. You can't go dumping that into a body of salt water. We'd be better off taking it over to the Durem Reclamation Plant and see how long it takes them to taste the difference in their drinking water."

Laughing, he nearly lost grip on his fishing pole when a fish bit down hard on the bait. "That's my girl," he said, getting a hold of the pole and reeling the fish in. "Course, you could always look into getting married if you're really bored."

She groaned. "I don't need to get married, and I don't really have anyone I'd want to marry. I keep telling people that. Beside, I'm surprised to hear you suggesting that."

"Just cause I've been happily single for years doesn't mean I don't appreciate marriage," Logan said. "And it'd be nice to have grandkids around. I'm not saying that you have to, but it would be nice."

"Yeah," she said with a bit of sarcasm. But she was the only child of both him and Agatha, so she was a little tired of hearing those hints.

"What about that Barrett fellow you've been partnering up with on other things?" Logan asked. "He seems like a good lad; heard he caught a tiger shark with his bare hands one time."

"Really?" Mirai asked. "I haven't heard that." If that was real, then that definitely changed how she thought on him. Barrett always seemed like such an academic, even when he went out to look for wild fish.

He nodded. "Heard about it from some guys who saw it; had pictures even. Wasn't that long ago, so you ought to ask him. I mean, I had thought he was a real prissy one before, but he might have some real talent as a fisherman in his blood."

Without warning, one of the other fisherman out on the lake shouted out, "IT'S THE LAST RED GUPPY I NEED! MY PROJECT WILL BE COMPLETE!"

"SHUT UP!" one of the other fisherman said.

Although she couldn't see the people on shore all that clearly, the particular fisherman excited about a guppy (what? Such a low goal.) seemed familiar. "Alchemists," she said, rolling her eyes.

"No kidding," Logan said. Then he shrugged. "Not that I should be complaining. They've become regular customers at the bait shop and they buy a lot. More than doubled my income, I'm sure. But although they buy all that Grade A bait, they seem to stick to the D, or even the F, when fishing. I don't see the point in that. I try to tell them otherwise, but they don't listen. Which is a real shame cause I'm the master..."

"Oh Dad, have you heard the rumor that Gino might be coming back home?" Mirai said, interrupting what she knew would be a horrible pun. As much as she tried to convince herself that her father told dirty and lame jokes just for laughs, sometimes one had to wonder. And that kind of wondering was something that she really didn't want to think about in context of her parents. "It even got in the daily paper."

"They're likely looking to use up space with that kind of nonsense," Logan said. "It'd be nice to see him again. I thought he'd gone and joined a nudist colony."

"That's what I've been saying," Mirai said. "It only makes sense."

He grinned, in a worrying way. "Right! He's been living with the huge weight of being Johnny's son, so he most likely sought freedom from the pressure. And shedding off society's expectations and normality is a rather tempting way to accomplish that. You never know until you try."

"Dad!" she complained, grimacing at the thought. He just laughed at that.

* * *

As Mirai pedaled her blue bike on the dirt path back to Barton, she considered the day and what she should do. She definitely needed something to spice up her life with. Sure, these days were pleasant and her business was doing fine. She had settled into the adult life, making her fortunes in the world. Now she needed something new, some new goal or purpose to work towards.

Marriage? It seemed a little too normal, almost stuffy. But if she had someone she could love for the rest of her life, it might be a wonderful change. Might be. She could remember her parent's marriage falling through during her childhood years and did not want to live through that again. The memories of that had always kept her from seeking out a serious relationship. However, she didn't want to even consider kids unless she was going to be married.

Biking? She usually biked to get around. But here out in the quiet countryside, watching the sky turn yellow in sunset, feeling the warm air blowing through her hair, smelling the earth and the trees around her... this was really nice. Then again, she wasn't sure she could stand lengthy bike trips just for the sake of biking. And really, there had to be more to life then just finding moments of pleasure before heading back to the grind of work.

She sighed. Working in an aquarium shop wasn't supposed to feel like a grind! There was even something different today, with the statue the Enkis had somehow acquired, but even that wasn't enough to feel out of the rut. She couldn't be getting bored of her dream job. Could she? Maybe she should work on breeding the pixie mermaids. It would at least be a goal to work towards.

Or maybe... maybe a bit of romance could be a good thing.

On coming to the edge of Barton, she noticed a familiar armored figure. Who knew why the Barton Regulars insisted on full metal armor for their uniform, but they kept most days in town peaceful. She took a hand off the handle to give him a quick wave. "Evening, Leon."

"Good evening, Mirai," he said, saluting as she biked by. "Careful on the roads."

The main thing to be careful of was running into pedestrians. The cobblestones could be rough to bike over, but there were smoother paved areas for bikers like her. Taking it slow, she made her way back to the store. The apartment that she and Barrett shared was right behind it. She had some fresh catfish that Logan had fileted and deboned for her, so she could work on dinner while she thought things over.

A short distance from the store, she came across a trio of musicians playing on a street corner. It was a bit of an odd grouping, being a guitarist, a flautist, and a drummer with a hand drum that looked more like a clay pot than any drum she was used to seeing. Despite that, they were playing nice music and it was a welcome change to the usual street activities. Mirai slowed her bike to get off when she got near them.

At the edges of the gathered group of listeners was Ian. He smiled and waved to her as she approached. "Good evening, Mirai. Nice day for biking, was it?"

She smiled back and nodded to him. "Actually, yeah, it was. The rain in the past week kept the dust down. Good evening." Since she had her bike with her, she stayed near the edge of the crowd. "What's with the band?"

"It's a little something I'm looking into making a regular thing around town," he said. "The Music Box group does support local musicians well, but they mostly focus on a few big events. They don't have the funding to do much more. So I thought I'd sponsor a way to have small groups play out on the city streets. Not all the time, but every so often."

"That would help them out," Mirai said. She knew of several talented musicians in Barton, but as he said, they had a hard time making enough money to play for a living. Especially for an unconventional but talented group like the one here. While there were a few people dancing and having fun, the style was definitely not mainstream.

"We're dong a few tests of this, to see where would be a good place," Ian said. He pointed at the streets around them. "This is a high traffic area for pedestrians. You can hear the vehicles at times, but not as much as some other spots. And I don't think most of the residents of these blocks would complain. Would you have a problem with it? Since you live and work here."

She shook her head. "No, I think it's a wonderful idea. Besides, I doubt that there would be the equipment needed to make the music loud enough to complain about."

He chuckled. "True."

"Why did you decide to do this?" Mirai asked, wondering if he was trying to get out of a slump like she was. But maybe it would come off as being too nosy. "Just curious, that's all."

After shrugging off her concern, Ian explained, "I mostly wanted to give back to the community. I got to a point where I feel satisfied with what I have, so I don't have much to do with my income aside from putting back into my store. But if it helps make Barton a better place, then I think this is a better use of the gold than just making more gold." He scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. "That, and I had wanted to be a musician myself when I was a kid."

"Oh, I didn't know that you played an instrument," she said. While Ian wasn't one of her close friends, it was a surprise to learn something new about him after knowing him for years.

"Not that well," he said. "I took guitar lessons for about a year, but had to stop to focus on school; never got back into it. I also tried to learn the accordion in college."

She laughed. "The accordion, huh?"

"Hey, the accordion can make good music like any other instrument," Ian said, playfully swatting her with his hat. "Takes quite a bit of coordination too."

"Mirai, great to see you again," a voice came from down below their knees. Rufus stopped by her bike, curling his tail in the manner of a pleased cat. "You look and smell wonderful. Say, have you been down to Bass'ken today?"

She chuckled. "Oh? Is that the reason that you're being sweet to me now?"

"Hardly," he said, but his tail twitched.

Ian picked his cat up. "I don't think you're fooling anybody," he said. "You're just after fish."

"Well have we bought any fish today?" the cat protested. "What are we going to have for dinner?"

Mirai glanced down at the wicker basket on her bike. She had hoped to run into these two, and planned for it. However, it should look spontaneous. "I did catch a good amount of fish today," she said.

Rufus immediately turned to her, his ears turned to listen intently.

Putting one hand to her chin, she said, "I was going to use some of it for my own dinner, but I might be able to spare one for you. Although, could you tell me something first, Rufus?"

"For you, I'll tell you anything," he said. It was probably more like for fresh fish, the cat would tell someone almost anything. He wouldn't betray Ian, Mirai was pretty sure, and he might be willing to lie to get the fish. But in this case, she thought he would rather tell the truth.

"Well some small animal has been messing around in my shop's trash every night this week," she said. When Rufus started to protest that, she put a finger on his paw. "I'll trust that it wasn't you this time. We settled that problem years ago, right?"

"Yeah, we did," he said. "Besides, you never had any fish in there."

"We handle deaths in a more responsible manner," Mirai said. "I was wondering if you knew who it might be, though. At least through how the area smells."

Rufus nodded. "I can find that out for you. And I won't mess with the trash, I swear. I haven't heard or seen anything, but I'll go back in the alley and check things out."

She smiled and gave him a small scratch on the forehead. "Thanks. It stresses out the fish in the back area near the door. I can even give you a green bass in advance." She opened up her basket and pulled out the smaller of the two bass that she had saved for this purpose.

"Yeah, I'll get down to cracking this mystery, once I have a snack," he said, pushing away from Ian to get put down. Once he was back on the street, Mirai gave him the small bass and watched him run off with it to eat in a less crowded place.

"I can give you some catfish filets too if you want them," she offered to Ian.

He shook his head. "No, it's fine. I was hoping to have something non-fish for dinner tonight, so thanks, this works out." He glanced over at where Rufus had run off to. "And I'll make sure he gets that done quickly."

"I have another for when he..." and then a loud sharp explosion disrupted their conversation and the music. People stilled for a second, trying to figure out where the danger was and if they should be running off. And, it wasn't like it might have been a couple years back when people would brush it off as kids with fireworks. No, after H & R Wesley had been bombed not that long ago, they were willing to take random explosions more seriously, with more concern.

It didn't take Mirai long to realize that it had come from near Phin Phang. Or possibly at the store? What if all the fish got killed? There was also the concern that her store was filled with lots of glass and water. But really, the loss of the fish would be much worse. She dropped her bike and ran through the crowd towards her store, calling hasty excuses to the people she ran into on the way. Ian was soon running after her.

But Phin Phang looked to be in its usual state. No smoke, no broken glass in the outer displays, no water spilling out from under the door. There was smoke in the air; not a lot, but it came from behind the store. In her apartment building? At least she didn't have any fish in there. She spent so much time in the store that she just kept her personal tanks as display pieces. Mirai and Ian cut through an alleyway to get to the building the explosion had come from. Not long after, Rufus came as well, packing his partially-eaten bass in his mouth.

The apartment building had smoke coming out of one of the windows on the second floor. Not her apartment, then, but one of her neighbors. One window and part of the wall had been blasted out, leaving glass and brick scattered at the back entrance to the store. Fortunately, the concrete back area had kept the debris from hitting the tank displays in the front of the store. Barrett was standing in the doorway to Phin Phang, a phone in his hand.

"Barrett, what happened?" Mirai asked as they came over, trying to avoid the broken glass.

He shrugged. "I have no clue; it happened without any warning. I did call the Regulars office, and it sounded like people were leaving out the front entrance."

From the hole in the wall, there came a shout. But one of excitement. "I've done it!"

"You've done what?" Barrett called up to the second floor. Mirai didn't think this was wise. After all, it might be a hostile person up there who caused the explosion.

However, it turned out to be that alchemist with the old brown coat again. He appeared at the hole in the wall where his window had been, with some long white thing of fabric in one arm. "I cracked that mysterious scroll and found an ancient formula for a precious item. I managed to interpret it all correctly and I made this!" He showed off the fabric thing, which turned out to be an elegant sparkling white dress, strangely free of ash, dust, or burns.

"What was that explosion up there?" Ian asked, seeing as the guy didn't seem that aggressive.

"I, um, goofed on the first craft," the alchemist said. "But I got it right on the second try. It wasn't that bad..." he paused and looked at the broken edges of brick wall as if noticing them for the first time.

"Huh, well I'm going to check on the people up front," Ian said, turning to Mirai and Barrett. "Then I'll let the people back there know it wasn't anything serious." He started to walk off, but then added, "Rufus, you make sure to check up on what you said you'd do."

"Right, in a bit," the gray cat said, returning to his meal.

"You know, I think I've seen a dress like that before," Mirai said up to the alchemist.

"Really? Because that scroll was expensive."

She nodded. "Yeah, I think I saw it in a store in Durem. Pricy, but nothing out of reach."

"Curses!" The alchemist disappeared back into his apartment, taking the dress with him.

"What's with being a downer about it?" Barrett asked her, puzzled. "It seems like it had been a lot of hard work on his part."

"I'd be more sympathetic to them if they didn't go asking me how to kill fish," Mirai said, then sighed and headed into Phin Phang. "Well I had brought back some dinner, but I need to get my bike and I don't think we're getting back into the apartment any time soon... what is going on back here?"

The back areas of the store were usually kept clean, as there were more fish living back here and she preferred a tidy working place. Now, one of the big work tables was filled with dirty bowls, knives, piping tubes, pans, other odd kitchen utensils, and a cake. At least, what should have been a cake. It was cut up into odd shapes and pieces for no apparent reason, with frosting amateurishly applied with varying consistency. And the frosting was colored strange, including a mucky pea green and a murky blue.

"Uh, surprise?" Barrett said, smiling like a puppy that wasn't sure if it had done something bad but wanted to please her.

When did he get an interest in baking? And why was he doing this in here? "What is this?" Mirai asked, a little exasperated.

He scratched his head. "Well I thought I'd bake a cake for you since you seemed to be sad or something. I dunno, you just don't seem to be as enthusiastic and cheerful lately."

He had noticed that about her before she did? Maybe he wasn't quite as absent-minded as she thought he was. "Really?" she asked, softening her tone.

"I just wanted to cheer you up a little," Barrett said. "So I thought I'd make a cake and frost it with a picture of fish. Then I thought, well maybe it would be better if it was a fish-shaped cake, but then I couldn't find any cake molds shaped like a fish. And a couple nights ago, we were watching that program on cake decorators and I thought, hey, I can carve a fish shape out of a cake." He shook his head. "It wasn't as easy as they made it look. I tried to salvage what I could, but then the frosting was hard to color and I had to keep half an eye on Jules and the store, and..."

She patted his arm. "It's fine. Thanks for the thought, and I'm sure the cake itself will still taste fine. And since the apartment might be blocked off for a while, how about we go out to eat somewhere after I get my bike?"

Relieved that she took it well, Barrett smiled. "Sure, we can find somewhere to get a quick bite to eat. I'll just cover up the, uh, cake pieces for now."

"I was thinking somewhere more like Little China Dish," Mirai said, meaning a classy restaurant that didn't need reservations, but still had a romantic atmosphere and excellent food.

He stared at her for a moment out of disbelief. "That place? But people would think, well, that we were out on a date or something."

"What's the matter with that?" she asked, smiling at him. Sometimes, it seemed, you had to make your own excitement.


End file.
